First Birthday
by SailorJen
Summary: Gin's birthday is coming up when he wonders about when Rangiku's is, back before they became soul reapers.


_First Birthday_

Gin returned to the little shack he now shared with Rangiku, his arms full of persimmons, which he knew would excite her as much as it did him, and with two rabbits, which he'd tied up and slung over his shoulder. Of course, he hadn't told her he was leaving and snuck out before the sun rose to check his traps, but he knew she wouldn't say anything about it. She never did. Only, he could see the relief on her face, even if she didn't mention it in words.

Honestly, he couldn't explain why he did it. She'd been with him for nearly a year now…it wasn't as if either of them planned on leaving the other behind. But, if he told her where he was going, wouldn't that mean something? Wouldn't that mean that he assumed that she'd be waiting for him when he returned? But life in the Rukongai was too harsh to make such a promise. He could easily encounter a wild beast or be attached by someone who desired the game he collected. It could all come to a tragic end at any moment. How could he make a promise that he couldn't guarantee to keep?

He made enough noise, between stomping through the dried leaves and setting down his rabbits, to alert her to his return before sliding the board over in order to squeeze in to the tiny room but she didn't look up from grinding her grain to look at him. Gin grabbed one of the clean bowls from the corner and emptied his arms of the fruit and then brought it over to her, setting it between them.

"Whatcha doing," he asked casually, grabbing one of the fruits and biting into it.

"I'm getting ready to make some bread."

"Really? What for?"

"Isn't it your birthday tomorrow?" she asked, glancing over.

"Yeah," he replied, now that he considered the date for a moment. "So?"

"Well, you said that you liked my bread, so I thought I'd make you some. I've never given anyone a present before…but I've known people who have," she said, continuing her work. "It's not much…"

"Well," he smiled more broadly, peering at her through his squinting eyes, "Thank you, Rangiku! No one has ever _given_ me anything before."

"It's nothing, really. You certainly deserve to have more than a couple loafs of bread," she said, starting to blush. "After all, I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for you."

"Nonsense," he said, shaking his head. "Someone else would have come along eventually."

That's what Gin always told her, at least, but even he knew that it wasn't likely that someone else would have come across her and bothered to help. She'd have been vulnerable. They might have done anything to her that they wanted. Even the soul reapers he'd seen the same day could probably sense her spiritual power but hadn't even looked to see where it was coming from. She'd have died if he hadn't helped her. But, he didn't want her to feel obligated to him just because of it.

"Hey. When is your birthday, Rangiku?" he asked suddenly, realizing that they'd not celebrated one for her in all this time.

Rangiku frowned and bowed over her work so that he wouldn't see her face. "I don't know," she answered. "I never counted days before I met you."

Gin's smile faded and he stared at her. She probably didn't even realize how her words sounded, he figured, but it sounded as if she was telling him that there was no meaning in her life before the day he found her. But, certainly, she didn't mean that. She couldn't.

"Then…the day we met is your birthday," he suggested. If it was the day that she really began to live her life, it was a fitting day, he reasoned. "All right? What do you say, Rangiku?"

She finally looked up from the bowl. "Sure," she simply agreed.

"Good. That way our birthdays are close together too. What would you like for your birthday?" he asked.

Blushing again, she shook her head. "You don't need to get me anything. I can't think of anything I want."

It was probably true, he realized, but he wasn't about to let her first birthday go by without doing anything to celebrate it. For the next couple weeks, he began to do some extra hunting and gathered some desirable herbs to sell at the market and collected a little extra money in order to buy her something nice. Early that morning, he slipped out of their house early and ran to the market. When she awoke an hour later, he was already back and had managed to collect another bowl full of persimmons and some walnuts as well.

"Happy birthday, Rangiku," he said, leaning against the wall and sharpening the end of a branch with his knife for another trap he was setting.

"Oh…that's right…I forgot we agreed that today was my birthday," she said, stretching and kicking off her blanket. "Thanks," she said, noticing the bowl on the floor.

Gin smirked. "That isn't your present. I got ya something else, since it's your first birthday."

"Really?" she asked, glancing around the room. "What is it?"

Gin reached behind him and dug out the pink scarf from behind him. Setting down the stick, he crawled over to her and wrapped the scarf around her neck a couple times.

"You were so cold last winter, I decided I ought to get you something practical but at the same time, I thought you'd like something pretty," he said, sitting back to check out his handiwork.

"You _bought _me something?" she asked, her eyes wide as she picked up the end of the scarf and rubbed her fingers over the soft material. "How much did this cost?"

"Not much," he answered, looking away so that she wouldn't look at him and know he was lying. She was becoming pretty good at discerning the truth, despite the fact that he always smiled just the same whether telling the truth or not. "Do you like it?"

"I love it! Thank you!" she said, grinning.

Then she crawled over to him and wrapped her arms around him. He could tell from the way his face got warm that he must be blushing, but this time he didn't try to hide it and even pat her back a couple times before she pulled away. "I don't deserve this," she said, returning her attention to her gift.

"Course ya do…you deserve better than that but I can't afford anything better. But that's something I'm going to change when I'm old enough to join the academy," he swore. "You could join too, you know. We wouldn't have to live out in the woods anymore."

"I guess I hadn't even thought about the future," she mused, looking up from playing with her scarf. "It was always so hard just to get through one day before. When I was alone."

"Well, your not alone right now. When we're a little older, we can join the academy and then we won't have to worry about dying from hunger or cold," he suggested.

Rangiku nodded and said no more about the matter, being really too excited about her first birthday to contemplate something that serious. But it was often on Gin's mind as the years passed. If they joined the academy and became soul reapers, he wouldn't have to worry about what would happen to her if he never made it back to her one day. Then, perhaps, he could start telling her when he was leaving…so that she could start counting the days until he came back and eagerly await his return.

If only it had turned out that way…

***A/N: I may make a sequel to this if anyone's interested. Let me know. And please leave reviews. Thanks for reading!***


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